A Heart for Winter's Day
by NetRaptor
Summary: A Christmas story. Metal Sonic is injured and seeks help from Tails-two weeks before the Winter's Day celebration. Despite his past misdeeds and reputation, Mecha is drawn into the cares of village life. But can even his formidable knowledge help a child born with a hole in his heart?
1. Chapter 1

The Ice Cap mountains were benign enough in summer. They accommodated hikers, campers, and other visitors with a minimum amount of deaths. But in winter, the mountains attempted to murder anyone who set foot on them-with avalanche, blizzards, and sheer cold.

It suited Mecha's temperament.

Beneath one of the mountains lay one of Robotnik's old hideouts-a sprawling underground complex crammed with machinery, computers and generators. But its master had abandoned it long ago, and the assassin robot Metal Sonic had made it his home.

His own projects filled the old labs. He brooded over one now, stooped over a computer console like an old man with arthritis. Around him stood vats of strangely-colored fluid, and tubes of silver nanite assemblers. It smelled strongly of disinfectants, and the concrete floor was scrubbed clean.

The only thing out of place in this strange, dangerous place, with its strange, dangerous master, was a gleaming blue chao. She sat on the floor amid a pile of picture books, turning pages with a tiny round paw tipped with claws. Now she looked up from her favorite book of all. "I want to celebrate Winter's Day this winter."

Mecha's only response was to curl his fingers against the tabletop, as if he had touched something nasty.

"What?" Aleda scrambled to her feet and bounced to her beloved parent. "We've never done it before. And it's not for two weeks."

"You merely wish me to heap new toys upon you," Mecha observed dryly.

"No I don't! Well, maybe." Aleda considered. "But you have to celebrate Winter's Day with lots of friends, so the new year is a good one. Can we visit that town where Sonic and Tails live?"

Mecha did not move. Her request rolled around in his brain like a magnetic ball, gathering every negative emotion within him. He knew nothing of holidays, or making merry, or giving gifts. It would expose him to every embarrassing situation imaginable, and many more he could not.

He turned his head a fraction of an inch, and pain seared down his back. He closed his silver eyelids a moment, and held his breath until his synthetic lungs protested. The pain abated, and he cautiously exhaled.

Aleda laid a warm paw on his biometal leg. "Isn't your back any better?"

"No." The word vibrated through his skeleton, jarring the pinched nerves between his telescoped vertebrae. He drew another careful breath and added quietly, "And my research is going nowhere."

The chao scrambled up on a chair, and from there to the computer console beneath his claws. "I thought you knew how to build a new spine."

He tapped the keyboard, and a holographic model of a Mobian spine appeared, outlined in green. "I possess all the schematics, yes. But integrating a new spine simply cannot be done. I would have to construct an entirely new body."

"Can you?" Her red eyes were serious.

He stroked her with one finger, which was all he could manage without moving his arm and upsetting the delicate painless state. "I could, but it would take years. Just as it took years to build this body."

Aleda gazed at the nearest tank, then pointed at it. "But you can grow organs in there, right?"

"Yes. As I said, building it is not the issue. Installing it is."

Mecha tried to straighten up, lifting his head. But crippling pain struck him like knives in the back, and he doubled over the console again. "I am unfit for travel," he gasped.

He had incurred the injury while saving Shadow from a terrible fall. Mecha's back had been broken in six places. While the chao-Phoenix Nox had healed ninety-seven percent of the damage, the remaining three percent had been Mecha's back. And as the months passed, his condition deteriorated. He had attempted to repair the damage with nanites, but the tiny machines formed new nerve endings and muscle groups that made the problem worse. The synthetic muscles in his back had grown so tight, in an effort to protect the cracked vertebrae, that they contorted his spinal alignment.

The idea of scrapping this body and starting over looked more attractive by the day.

"Have you asked Melchizedek about it?" Aleda asked gravely.

Mecha didn't answer for a while. His master and teacher-and perhaps god-had told him to contact Tails for assistance. Mecha refused. Tails, Sonic's kitsune friend, adored Mecha and constantly attempted to become friends. The idea of suffering his cheerful chatter along with the pain was too awful to contemplate.

Aleda watched his face, and grinned mischievously. "You did, didn't you? And he said something you don't like."

"He said that Miles Prower can help me," Mecha said through clenched teeth.

Aleda clapped her paws. "Goody! Let's go, then! I'll pack my scarf and my hat!" She jumped off the console and ran off in the direction of her room.

Mecha gazed at his reflection in the glass surface of the console screen. They would not go anywhere. She was simply a ridiculous chao filled with ridiculous notions. He was in too much pain to...

What if Tails could truly help him?

No, no. It was too far. The pain was too bad. Besides, what would the Freedom Fighters make of the rune engraved on his arm? He glanced at it. It was a complex interwoven pattern, four inches across, branded into his left arm. The brand had been filled with molten chaos pearl, giving the brand a rainbow pearly sheen. His metal skin had healed beautifully, and the rune acted like a permanently-installed chaos emerald. Like a kitsune, it allowed him to use the planetary chaos field, as well as chaos emeralds that would otherwise harm him.

Tails would likely go into convulsions of joy upon discovering that Mecha needed his assistance. Disgusting. Let alone the way the Hedgehog would smirk.

Although, during the war with the Black Arms, they had all been allies. The last time he had seen the Hedgehog, he'd had his jaw broken and his mouth bandaged shut.

In the depths of his being, there arose a flicker of pity.

Pity? For the Hedgehog? No! Never! How could he allow such a horrible thing? Yet his back hurt so badly, he did not wish a similar experience on anyone. Even his worst enemy.

Aleda returned, dragging a knapsack crammed with toys and books. "Hi Mecha! I've got everything I need!"

He heaved a sigh, and moved from the desk at last. Pain needled his back and ribs. He winced and murmured, "You cannot take all that. I will assist you."

Fifteen minutes later, Mecha and Aleda were clad in warm clothing. He wore a backpack that he had painstakingly struggled into, and his coat sleeve concealed his chaos rune. The weather reports online informed him that it was snowing in Knothole, and his new android body, while massively more efficient than his old robot body, did require shelter from the elements. As did Aleda, who, as a true organic life form, required far more care.

Aleda climbed onto his shoulder, sending more pain through his back. Mecha closed his eyes until it passed, then lifted the violet chaos emerald from its lead-lined box, which protected his machines from its ambient power. He focused on controlling chaos, directing its random, harmful energies through his hand and into the chaos pearl of the rune. It dropped the power to a smooth, even output that was sheer delight to work with. Even in his pain, Mecha realized he had missed it.

"Chaos relocate," he said.

* * *

"Things are good," said Sonic.

He, Tails and Sally sat on a sofa facing the fireplace in their hut. Sonic had propped his sock-clad feet on the metal screen in front of the fire. Sally the squirrel was curled up on one side of him with a book, occasionally brushing her auburn forelock out of her eyes. Matching gold rings glittered on her and Sonic's fingers-they had been married six months. Tails nestled against Sonic on his other side, an open notebook on his lap, where he was industriously drawing a nameless machine prototype with a ruler and pen. Sonic himself had the latest handheld videogame in his lap, but he was feeling too lazy to play. It was so comfortable to watch the fire and his two favorite people.

Tails didn't look up. His concentration was so complete, he hadn't heard Sonic at all. Sally lifted her head and smiled. "Oh, I know. I'm so glad we're all in here, and not out there." She nodded at the window. Snowflakes swirled thickly outside, turning the winter afternoon a dull gray.

"A white Winter's Day," Sonic sighed. "This will be the best one ever. I get to light all the crystals this year."

Tails looked up at last. "Does that mean you got presents for the whole village?"

Sonic laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know! Actually there were a lot of people who can't use chaos energy very well, so I volunteered to light theirs."

Tails gazed at him without answering.

Sonic ruffled his head fur. "Yeah, I got presents. But they're a secret!"

Satisfied, Tails returned to drawing.

Sally laughed a little. "Imagine if Shadow was here. He'd do that explosion thing and set the tree on fire."

Sonic laughed, too, and mimed using a chaos emerald with a fierce expression. "I know right? Chaos ... destruction! Boom! Smash!"

Tails grinned and started to say something, but somebody knocked at the door. He jumped over the back of the sofa and went to answer it.

Sally sat up and looked toward the door. "Now who could that be?"

Sonic returned to his fire-facing slouch, arms behind his head. "Probably somebody threatening us with fruitcake."

"In this weather?"

Tails opened the door a crack to keep the warmth in, and peered out. Then he gasped, and his tails fluffed twice their size, like a frightened cat's.

"Who is it?" Sally said in concern.

Tails cupped a hand around his mouth and whispered, "It's Mecha!"

Sonic zipped to the door so fast, he almost sucked the fire out of the fireplace. Sally placed a close second. The three of them peered out the door.

Metal Sonic-or Mecha, as he now called himself-stood on the doorstep in ankle-deep snow. Snowflakes sprinkled his head and strange lifelike ears, and the shoulders of his coat. He wore a backpack, and his chao Aleda sat on his shoulder, clad in so many layers of clothing, she was nearly a sphere.

"Merry Winter's Day," said Mecha as if he wished anything but.

"Um," said Sonic.

"Merry Winter's Day," said Sally, but her voice rose on a questioning note.

Tails flung the door wide, grabbed Mecha's left hand, and pumped it up and down. "I'm so glad! I've been wondering how you've been! What have you been doing? Did you know I got kidnapped by the whole kitsune nation?"

Mecha grasped the door's lintel with his free hand, bracing himself against Tails's onslaught. When Tails finally released him, Mecha closed his eyes and stood still, teeth clenched.

"I think you hurt him," said Aleda, watching Mecha's face in concern.

Tails looked at Sally and Sonic, mouth open in consternation. "Hurt him? All I did was shake his hand! Mecha, did I hurt you?"

"You merely aggravated an existing problem," said Mecha, opening his eyes. His red pupils flickered, like a light powered by a dying battery. "That is one reason I am here. I need your aid."

Sonic held up a hand. "Wait just a minute. Last time I saw you, you were helping Shadow hand the chaos emeralds to Black Doom! How can we trust you?"

Mecha gave him a disgusted look. "Shadow used the emeralds to destroy Black Doom and his minions. Or didn't your tiny brain grasp that detail?"

Sonic's hands curled into fists, and his blue spines crackled with chaos energy. "I'll show you-"

"Hold it." Sally threw an arm out to hold him back. "Sonic, behave. Mecha, if you really need help, you'll have to behave, too. Understand?"

He gazed at her with a bemused smile. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Tails, take him to your garage."

The young fox bounded out into the snow without a coat, calling for Mecha to follow him. Mecha turned, slowly and carefully, and shuffled after him, shoulders slightly stooped.

"Sonic," Sally said very quietly, "he's in pain. Look at him."

Sonic had noticed, and already regretted his response to the android's needling words. He retreated inside, and Sally closed the door.

"I made him this way, Sal. I-I broke him. He's never recovered." The memories blazed before Sonic's eyes-of Metal Sonic lying in ruins aboard the flagship of the Egg Fleet, begging Sonic to destroy him permanently.

Sonic hadn't been able to do it.

And later, after Mecha had hatched Aleda and recovered a little, he was never the same again. Of course, his old self had been an assassin robot ravaged by hate-but his defeat had been so terrible that Sonic still carried the guilt.

Sally put her arms around him. "Stop blaming yourself. He may not be as bad off as you think. Besides, at least we know he won't murder us all in our sleep."

Sonic nodded. "Well. Yeah. Honestly, if he's in that much pain, I don't think he could."

* * *

Tails's workshop was a cement-floored garage that had been added onto in various directions. Tails now lived upstairs in a comfortable apartment filled with machine parts, power crystals, and robotics magazines. He also hosted the computer network service for the whole village.

But the garage was unheated. Tails glanced around at the workbenches, racks of tools, and the Cyclone wrapped cozily in canvas. "You probably don't want to stay here."

Mecha eyed the narrow stairs. "I doubt I could navigate those." He stood near the wall and again braced himself with one hand.

The cold ate through Tails's whole body, and he shivered until his teeth rattled. "What's wrong with you, anyway?"

"My spine has telescoped."

"It-it what?"

Mecha sighed. "Greetings, Cyclone."

"Greetings, Mecha," replied the plane-turned walker. It's blue eye-lights flickered on.

Aleda squealed. "Ooo! I can hear him in my head!"

"I'm sure you two will become excellent friends," said Mecha dryly. "Cyclone, I am transmitting a holographic image. Please display it for Tails."

"Affirmative."

The plane projected a small holographic image a foot beyond its nose. Tails hurried over to look at it, hugging himself in an attempt to stay warm. The image showed a heavily damaged spine, with every disc pinched between every vertebrae. He gaped at it. "Mecha-what do you expect me to do? I'm a mechanic, not a doctor!"

"You are the only one capable of rendering me assistance," growled Mecha. "Do you realize what would happen if news of my synthetic body became general knowledge?"

"Uh." Tails clenched his teeth to keep them from chattering. "You'd be a celebrity?"

"I would be disassembled for study. As an artificial life form, I have no rights."

There was a horrifying thought. Tails tried to think, but encroaching hypothermia made it impossible. "Come upstairs where it's warm." He galloped up them two at a time.

Mecha followed, eventually, one painful step at a time. By the time he reached the top, Tails had tidied his apartment and built Mecha a bed on his second-hand sofa.

Mecha gazed at it. "Look closely at the back of my head. Do you see the three hedgehog-like spikes protruding from it? They are not kind to upholstery."

Tails waved a hand. "No big deal. Sonic's already ripped it up just by sitting there. Should I make a separate bed for your chao?"

"No. She shall sleep with me." Mecha raised an arm and attempted to remove his backpack. Tails had to help him with it. By the time Mecha had also removed his coat, his limbs had begun to shake from the pain. He settled himself onto the sofa, one limb at a time, and finally lay on his side with his silver eyelids closed.

Aleda curled up against his chest, but her eyes moved as she studied Tails and their surroundings. "I like you," she announced.

Tails pulled off his shoes. "Oh good. I like you. And Mecha."

"He knows you do. That's why he came here. I wanted to come for Winter's Day and he said you could help him."

Tails frowned at his toes. "I'm not sure I can." The spine lingered in his memory with its enormous complexity and horrendous damage. He hadn't the faintest clue how to begin fixing it.

"Well, goodnight," he said, and locked himself in his bedroom. Probably he was safe-but then again, he'd never had Metal Sonic as a roommate before.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still snowing the next day. Knuckles arrived outside the village via the crystal teleporter he used for quick transport from the Floating Island. He stepped off it into eight inches of soft, powdery snow. "Ugh. Ick." Snowflakes immediately gathered on his head and muzzle, and he brushed them off. "Stupid climate. Better bring a hat next time." He'd donned a coat and snowpants, but he was acclimated to the milder temperatures of the Floating Island's warm winter home near the equator. The cold ate straight through the fabric.

He jammed his big hands in his pockets, shook snow out of his red dreadlocks, and headed into the village. The snow creaked underfoot, and slipped ever so slightly.

Sonic zipped toward him, his blue fur set off by a scarlet hat and scarf. He tried to stop, and slid by Knuckles in a cloud of white. The echidna was dusted from head to foot.

"Sorry!" Sonic exclaimed, scrambling to his feet halfway down the street.

Knuckles wiped his face and brushed himself off. "Thanks for that, snow blower."

Sonic returned at a walk. "How's the family?"

Knuckles sighed. "That's why I'm here."

Sonic's smile faded as he scanned his friend's face. "What's wrong?"

Knuckles had married Zephyer two years earlier, and they had had a child the previous year-Simoon, the first baby echidna born on Mobius since Knuckles, himself. Now six months old, he had been the picture of health the last time Sonic had seen him.

Knuckles's eyes were shadowed. "He started acting strange a week ago. Couldn't breathe, wouldn't eat, color was off. We took him to a doctor down south."

Sonic's eyes widened. "And?"

Knuckles stared into the falling snow and hunched his shoulders. "Abnormalities in the heart. At least one hole in the wall between chambers. They're still running tests."

Sonic gaped. "A hole in his freaking heart? How is he still alive?"

Knuckles rubbed his forehead. "He won't be much longer if they don't do something. Best case scenario, surgery. Worst case, transplant."

They stood in silence a long moment.

"Merry Winter's Day, eh?" said Sonic with exaggerated cheerfulness.

Knuckles cracked a smile. "Yeah. So, we might not be here for the holiday. Just warning you."

Sonic nodded and looked somber. Then his eyes lit. "Oh man, you'll never guess who showed up for Winter's Day." He grabbed Knuckles's hand and tugged him up the snowy street.

"Uh," said Knuckles, "it better not be Rouge."

"Dude, if it were her, we'd both be running the other way."

"It wouldn't be Robo Knux, but-oh no, wait, don't tell me-"

Sonic opened the door to Tails's workshop and they stepped inside.

"-Metal Sonic," Knuckles finished.

The android lay face-down on a wooden bench, his head turned sideways and red eyes tracing watchfully around the room. Tails hovered nearby, bundled in a coat, adjusting space heaters. Doctor Shepherd, a collie, and Knothole's resident pediatrician, knelt over the android with a handful of tools and a headset that looked as if it might play videogames or shoot lasers.

"Greetings, Knuckles," said Mecha.

The echidna watched the doctor and android for a long moment without speaking.

Sonic offered, "His back's screwed up and he thought Tails could help."

Knuckles ventured a few steps closer. "Is that right? This isn't some scheme to infiltrate the village?"

Mecha's eyes narrowed. "If I wished to do such a thing, I'd do it in a manner far less humiliating to myself."

"Yeah!" A metallic blue chao wearing a pink sweater bounced out from under the tarp housing the Tornado. She glared up at Knuckles. "We're your friends! We came for Winter's Day, and Mecha's very hurt. Don't be mean."

Despite his somber mood, Knuckles cracked a smile. He'd forgotten about Aleda, and her humanizing influence on the android. She looked clean and well-fed, testament to Mecha's meticulous care.

"So, what's the problem, then?"

Mecha glanced at the Tornado's blue eyes, which glittered on either side of its nose. Again it projected a hologram of the spine. Knuckles walked over and peered closely at it. "What about your nanite systems? Can't you repair the damage?"

The hologram zoomed in and highlighted a painful-looking bone spur protruding from a vertebrae. "The structural damage is beyond their power. They only build structures such as this. I need either medical help, or a new body."

Knuckles's head drooped, and he folded his arms as if struck by a sudden chill. Simoon, too, was sick and helpless, with a cure seemingly out of reach.

Doctor Shepherd pulled off his headset. "Well, I've read about treatment for this sort of thing. The trouble is, it requires equipment we don't have."

"And that is?" Mecha glared at the collie.

"Put you in a harness and stretch your spine out. Let the disks heal and return to their places. Use your nanites to intelligently rebuild damaged areas."

Mecha struggled to lift his head, but could not. "And we lack such a harness."

Tails shot Knuckles a look. "We could build one."

Knuckles, despite his size and strength, was known in Knothole for his quick intelligence. He'd spent his long years of solitude on the Floating Island in study, and loved building useful machines. While Tails's skill in robotics far surpassed Knuckles's, Knuckles was adept at building sturdy, useful things. He already pictured what such a stretching machine might look like.

"I'll do some sketches and come back tomorrow."

Tails had already grabbed a pencil and a sheet of graph paper, and was scribbling with his tongue between his teeth.

Knuckles and Sonic walked back to the teleporter through the thickening snow. "Gives me something else to think about," said Knuckles. "Wish I could build something that might help Simoon."

"Will Zeff mind?"

Knuckles snorted. "She's always felt sorry for Mecha. She'll want to come visit. Simoon's in the hospital, and we're just sitting on our hands."

Sonic clapped his friend on the back. "Hang in there, Knux. Things will work out."

Knuckles nodded silently, lifted a hand in farewell, stepped onto the crystal teleporter lens beneath its little shelter, and vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

That afternoon the snow finally stopped. Aleda hurled herself out in it, sank up to her neck, and floundered until Tails rescued her. She emerged, laughing and licking at the snow on her face with a little red tongue.

"Mecha," said Tails over his shoulder, "mind if I take her for a run? The other kids are out playing."

Mecha had dragged himself to his feet, and stood near the workbench, examining Tails's sketches. He looked up with a scowl.

Through the wireless network all Mecha-bots shared, he said, "Aleda, you are likely to become hurt."

"No I won't!" she replied through the network. It was her special chao ability to converse with machines. "The snow is soft-it's like playing on pillows."

"Well." His scowl softened. "If anything happens, notify me and I'll ... send someone."

His sadness at being unable to accompany her was almost as painful as his damaged back. Aleda saw it on his face.

This conversation took less than five seconds, but Tails noticed the pause, and the way the chao and android stared at each other. "You know, I'm right here. You can talk normally."

"But its fun to use the network!" said Aleda.

Tails carried her to the playground outside the village. It was several large boulders, a tire swing, and a set of climbing bars that Tails had built. The small children of the village ran about in the snow, flinging snowballs, tumbling about, or pushing snow into walls for forts.

The play was overseen by a two-legged dinosaur-a velociraptor-with bio mechanical feathered golden wings folded to her sides. She wore a pair of toed-boots, like gloves, specially made to accommodate her long sickle claws. She waved cheerfully to Tails.

Aleda flinched. "Who's that?"

"That's Slasher. She's really nice, don't worry."

A young squirrel ran to the dinosaur, yelling about some injustice done to him by the other kids. Slasher put an arm around him and bowed her head to listen to his story. Then she walked over and had a word with the offenders. Play resumed, and the young squirrel was happy again.

"See?" said Tails.

"Okay," said Aleda. He set her down, and she hurled herself into the chaos with a delighted shriek.

Tails walked up to Slasher. "Hi! How do the boots feel?"

"Perfect," said the raptor. She lifted one foot, then the other. "My wings keep me warm enough, but the winters are so hard on my feet. It's a lovely gift." She bared her teeth in a smile.

Tails grinned. "I'm just glad you like them."

They watched the youngsters running about. Aleda struggled to climb a small boulder. Slasher nodded at her. "For Mecha's chao, she seems normal enough."

"I think," said Tails slowly, "it's because Mecha is more ... normal. He has moods and feelings now-he's not completely out to kill Sonic."

"Does he ever say Sonic's name?"

"No."

Slasher folded her forearms and kicked her claws through the snow. "I think when he reaches the point where he can bury that hatchet, he'll be completely well. But he's got a long way to go."

"I'll say." Tails detailed Mecha's condition and the rig he was designing to help treat it. Slasher listened with her head tilted to one side.

"I think it'll work, but good grief, Slasher. It's going to hurt him so much, he might not be able to do it."

She shrugged her wings. "That's up to him. Knowing him-and knowing Sonic-he's pigheaded enough to see it through."

Tails frowned. "What do you mean, knowing Sonic? Mecha's not a copy of him anymore."

Slasher's green eyes sparkled. "Maybe not, but their personalities are similar. Sonic never walks away from a challenge, and neither does Mecha. It's why they still despise each other-they're too much alike."

Tails had never thought of this before. He scooped up a handful of snow and carefully rolled it into a ball. "I probably shouldn't mention this to either of them."

Slasher snorted. "Probably not."

Sonic appeared in a blur of blue and red. "Hey, kids! Let's build snow animals!"

The kids cheered and began enthusiastically gathering armfuls of snow. Aleda was in the thick of it, pushing a snowball the same size as herself. Tails jumped in to help.

"Hey Tails!" Sonic said as his friend appeared. "You think these cubs could build a polar bear?"

Tails surveyed the eager faces turned to them. "I think they could try."

"Let's do it!"

It took a while, and almost all the snow in the playground, but eventually a big white bear-shaped mound began to take shape. But halfway through, the kids began to tire and complain about the cold.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," said Sonic in a stage whisper. "Hot chocolate in the community hut!"

The crowd of small people cheered, and stampeded away. Aleda was at the rear of the pack, and Sonic scooped her up. "Here, shortstuff, let me give you a lift."

"Thanks," she panted.

He rubbed snow off her head as he and Tails walked to the community hut. "Mecha needs to get you a hat."

"I don't like hats," she proclaimed. "I'd rather get snow in my fur."

Sonic shrugged. "Your funeral when your ear-nubs freeze." He glanced at Tails, and behind his good-humor there lay melancholy. "He didn't murder you in your sleep, so I guess you guys are buds now, huh?"

Tails recalled locking his bedroom door, and his ears flattened. "Not exactly. I mean, it's more like a truce."

"Mecha says you're annoying," Aleda piped up.

Sonic laughed. Tails's face burned beneath his fur. "I'm annoying?"

"You talk too much. He says you'd appear to possess a higher intelligence quotient if you reduced your verbosity by two thirds."

Her words-and such an obvious quote from Mecha-were like a wallop between the eyes for Tails.

Sonic, however, laughed even harder.

"What?" Tails snapped. It was bad enough that Mecha's opinion of him was so low, without Sonic enjoying it.

"Sorry!" Sonic gasped. "Her impression of Mecha was so perfect!"

Tails said nothing else. He drank his hot chocolate in silence, despite Sonic's attempts to make up. Once Aleda had finished, Tails took her back to his workshop.

Without speaking, he set Aleda beside Mecha, where the android still stood at the desk, drawing lightly on the grid paper. Then Tails went to his stack of scrap metal in the corner, and began hauling bars off of it.

Aleda told Mecha every last detail of her snowy adventures, culminating in the hot chocolate. "With whipped cream! It was all crinkly and swirly and pretty!"

"I am glad you enjoyed yourself," said Mecha. And he truly sounded glad. Tails sneaked a glance at him. Mecha was stroking Aleda's smooth head, and she had shut her eyes in a look of bliss.

Tails said nothing, though. He dragged loose four metal bars, and began measuring and marking them.

Mecha watched. After a while he remarked, "Before you begin cutting those, you may want to examine the enhancements I made to your design."

Tails walked over and looked at the blueprints in silence.

Mecha gazed at him thoughtfully. "Is there a reason for your sudden lack of vocal communication?"

Without looking at him, Tails replied, "I'm cutting my verbosity by two-thirds."

Mecha's head jerked slightly, as if he'd been slapped. With an odd, shrill tone, he demanded, "Who told you that?"

"Aleda."

Slowly Mecha closed his eyes. "Ah. Aleda, please do not repeat such things to people."

The chao's eyes were round and innocent. "Why not? You said it."

Tails sneaked a look at Mecha's face. The android's semi-silver teeth were bared in an embarrassed grimace. He opened his red eyes and gazed at Tails. "My apologies. I should never have voiced such an opinion to anyone."

Tails's hurt feelings rose to the surface, and he glared. "I talk too much, is that it?"

Mecha did not answer for a long moment, and his red eyes slid away from Tails's furious blue ones. "The fault is perhaps my own. I am unused to much ambient sound, and the deluge of noise here is compounded by your garrulousness. I should have made known my wishes sooner."

Tails hung his head. "So I talk too much."

Mecha nodded slightly. "Yes. But is that not how two people become friends, by learning their likes and dislikes?"

Tails looked up, blinking. Sudden hope replaced the hurt feelings in his heart. "You want to be friends?"

"I admit that I am unfamiliar with the concept. But I am willing to attempt the endeavor."

"I've wanted to be friends forever! But I never could figure out how, I mean, you told me that if I tried to contact you, you'd cut pieces off me, and-"

Mecha raised a warning finger.

Tails checked his chatter. "Um, sorry."

The android smiled-a real smile that looked strange on his face, which still resembled his old immobile metal frame. Despite the strangeness, it also conveyed an unmistakable friendliness that Tails had never glimpsed before. It was as if, beneath the biometal and nanocircuitry, a living heart was beating.

The moment was cut short by Mecha tapping the blueprint. "As I was saying, I made a few modifications to your design." Then work resumed. But Tails felt as if he'd been carrying the Cyclone on his shoulders, and had suddenly set it down.

An hour into the build, Knuckles arrived, carrying a toolbox and wrapped in a heavy coat and hat. "Hey guys."

"Hi Knuckles!" said Tails.

"Greetings," Mecha said. "We require another set of hands."

"I thought you might." Knuckles set his toolbox on the workbench. "What've you guys got so far?"

The rest of the afternoon was spent in refining the design, and examining Tails's stockpile to make sure he had the necessary materials. Then Tails produced his welding equipment, and began fusing metal together as Knuckles went to work on the other bars with a hacksaw.

Doctor Shepherd came in and out with various medical books, and located diagrams of similar machines built to decompress a damaged spine.

It was a simple build, and by that evening, the metal frame was assembled. It was a bench with two sliding pads on top, and an old flight harness from one of Tails's Tornado builds.

Aleda jumped up and slid back and forth on the moving panels. "Whee! Will this really help you, Mecha?"

The android stepped to the bench and gazed at it. "Yes, in theory. One lies down here. The hips are harnessed to the foot of the table for stability. Then the plate under the lower back slides apart from the upper one, stretching the spine. It will only stretch for a minute, then it returns to its place. This repeats over and over for half an hour every day until the healing is complete."

Knuckles stashed his tools in his toolbox, then rose to his feet. "Care to try it, Mecha?"

"Yes." Mecha would have strapped himself into the machine, had he been able to move in such a way without pain. As it was, Knuckles and Tails had to help him.

The moving panel was operated by a rope attached to several pulleys, controlled by Mecha, so he could stop the stretch if the pain exceeded his tolerance. Once he lay on the bench with the harness around his waist, he very gently pulled the cord.

Tails and Knuckles watched closely. The machine put tension on Mecha's lower body, as it was supposed to, and he closed his eyes.

"Does it hurt?" Aleda asked anxiously.

"Yes and no," said Mecha through clenched teeth. "Yes, there is pain, but the eternal pressure is also being relieved. I believe-" He let go of the cord, and gasped as the plate slid back into place. "I believe it will work."

"Great." Knuckles put on his hat. "I'm outta here, then."

"Are you coming for the Tree next week?" Tails asked.

Knuckles shrugged. "Simoon's in the hospital, so I don't know."

"Oh no! What's wrong?"

"Birth defect. Hole in the heart. See you guys." Knuckles departed, and Tails followed, obviously intending to collect more details.

Mecha was left alone on the decompression machine. He wrote a quick program to time the stretch and rest periods, and watched his spinal scans for signs of improvement. But curiosity stirred behind all that. When Tails returned a few minutes later, looking solemn, Mecha asked, "Who is Simoon?"

"Knux and Zeff's baby." Tails sat on a stool and rested his elbows on the Tornado's side.

"Oh. I did not know that they had reproduced."

"Yeah." Tails stared at the wall. "He might die."

Mecha pondered this in silence for a while. Again, he was surprised to feel pity stirring within him. He had nearly lost Aleda twice, and holding her limp body in his claws had nearly destroyed him. Now that living hell was to be bestowed upon Knuckles and Zephyer. Unlike Sonic, he didn't hate Knuckles in particular, and rather respected him for his power and responsibilities. Zephyer had been one of Mecha's own experiments-he had roboticized her with one of his biometal prototypes-and he knew that her deroboticization had cost her greatly. It was a miracle she was able to bear children at all.

And now, to face losing that child ...

His home base contained all the machines for synthesizing organs. Provided the proper samples, he could construct a new heart for the child and install it himself. But he must have full freedom of movement-his spine must be repaired. And would Knuckles and Zephyer trust him to depart with their child into the cold and darkness of his frigid Ice Cap base?

If he were in their place, he would not. He dared not even offer his services until his spine began to heal.

Tails shivered and slid off the stool to adjust the nearest space heater. "I wish I knew more about biological stuff. I'd build Simoon a new heart."

Their thoughts had run along the same lines. Mecha watched the young fox as he turned a heater and warmed his hands over its top. "I, however, do."

Tails's head jerked up, eyes wide with sudden hope. "You do, don't you? Could you make him a heart?"

"Yes. It is the installation that is most difficult."

Tails winced. "Yeah. Imagine the crazy life support. And all the stitching to hook it up."

"I would utilize nanites to do the tissue repairs. But yes. It is a complex endeavor."

"Have you ever done it before?"

Mecha gazed at the ceiling, afraid that his sudden shame might show through his eyes. "Consider how Shadow is one-half robot."

Tails's mouth formed a perfect O. After a short pause, he said, "So you could totally handle it."

"Yes. The question is whether I will be repaired in time. And whether Knuckles and Zephyer would trust me with the life of their son." Mecha glared at the ceiling. "I have a reputation for murder."

Aleda's warm paw patted the back of his cold hand. "But not anymore," she assured Tails.

"No," said Mecha quietly. "Not anymore."


	3. Chapter 3

A day later, Aleda bounced into the garage from the cold, carrying a wrapped box and accompanied by Sonic.

Mecha was doing a slow series of stretches before using the decompression machine, but froze at the sight of his old enemy.

"Hi Mecha!" Aleda toddled to his feet and held up the box. "We're all making presents in the community hut. This is one I made for you!" When he reached for it, she snatched it away. "But you can't have it until Winter's Day."

Mecha glanced at Sonic and struggled with his dislike. Finally he managed to say, "Thank you. For assisting her."

"Hey, no prob." Sonic waved a hand. "I actually came to ask about your plans. You know how everybody who contributes a gift gets to light a light on the Tree, right?"

Mecha nodded. "It is an old custom."

"Right! Well, we've always used these little crystals that light with chaos power, but not everybody can use it. So, I just needed to know if you were going to give presents, and if you wanted me to light your crystals for you."

An extraordinary number of feelings swirled through Mecha at this. Consternation at the idea of giving gifts-he had not thought of it until that minute. Resentment that the Hedgehog was offering to help him, even though his offer was purely friendly. And pride that he, himself, could use chaos power.

"I am able to ignite chaos-based lights myself," said Mecha. "Your services will not be necessary in that regard."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, sorry, I know you used a lot as Metal Overlord. But can you still?"

Mecha had kept the chaos rune on his wrist concealed throughout his entire visit, contriving to keep his coat on at all times. When using the decompression machine, he wrapped his wrist in athletic tape, as if protecting it from a sprain. His wrist was wrapped now, and his coat hung over a nearby stool. Now he slowly began unwrapping the tape. "I have been many places and learned many things, hedgehog. Did you not wonder how Shadow and I came to be on the Black Comet and the Space Colony ARK?"

Sonic shrugged. "I thought Shadow teleported you guys."

"He and I pooled our powers for such immense distances." Mecha peeled off the last of the tape, and displayed his wrist.

Sonic's eyes widened. "Whoa! What is that?" He stepped forward and peered at the design. It flashed with pearly rainbow colors under the harsh garage lights-a circle containing interwoven lines, four inches across.

"This is a rune made of melted chaos pearl," said Mecha. The look of admiration and awe on Sonic's face gave him a warm, pleased feeling.

"I've never heard of such a thing." Sonic raised a finger. "Mind if I touch it?"

"Go ahead."

Sonic traced the engraving's smooth paths. Such was the rune's sensitivity that Mecha's many chaos-programs connected to the rune took readings on Sonic's chaos levels. "It appears that you posses a chaos level of sixty-three hundred Jems."

Sonic snatched his hand away. "How did you know that?"

Mecha flexed his hand. "Chaos pearl utilizes the global chaos field. As a result, I can tell many things about smaller, localized chaos auras."

"Whoa." Sonic retreated to a respectful distance. "So, there's no difference between us now, is there? I mean, you can do chaos stuff now. That was the last thing."

"I suppose ... it is." Mecha had not considered this. He wasn't sure he liked it-it brought up unpleasant memories.

"Because ..." Sonic folded his arms and looked away. "Because Tails has hardly given me the time of day since you got here."

Mecha stiffened. "I ... do not demand his services. He volunteered to assist me."

"I know." Sonic continued to stare at the workbench across the room. "You guys are probably best buddies now. I'm just the old, uncool dude."

Mecha clenched his fists, and his biometal skin shifted, lengthening his spines and making his face harsher, as he phased toward his Neo design. "Hedgehog, let me clarify the situation. To Miles Prower, I am a super-advanced machine. He admires me in the same way he admires the latest hovercar model-as a fantastic piece of engineering. When I suggested that we might be friends, he was taken aback. I am something to tinker with, not a person to befriend."

Sonic looked at him sideways. "Then why are you so mad about it? Do you realize that you're transforming?"

Mecha looked down at himself, and flexed his hands, which had shaded from yellow to black. He swore under his breath, took one step forward-and the back pain smote him to his knees. The added weight in his head spines put new pressure on the tense muscles and pinched nerves, and the agony overwhelmed his sensors for several minutes.

When he could see and hear again, he found himself still sitting on the floor, once more his original shape. Sonic knelt beside him, one hand on his shoulder. "Hey Mecha. Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"No." The word was a gasp through clenched teeth. "Do not attempt to aid me-I must rise, myself."

Sonic withdrew his hand. His green eyes held a strange expression-wary compassion, perhaps. "So, what you're saying is, Tails only likes you for your body."

A pained grin spread across Mecha's face. "Do not make me laugh. It hurts."

Sonic laughed a little, himself, and sat on the cold concrete. "Sorry. It's just hard, you know?"

"Yes." Mecha closed his eyes. The proximity of his greatest enemy, at ease and off his guard, sent a whisper of his old programming through him-Priority one hedgehog. Strike! Kill! Yet he could not move without the pain crippling him.

He drew a breath into his synthetic lungs, and repressed the old killer instinct. This was not a life or death struggle-in a way, it was worse. It was a question of loyalties, and love.

"Hedgehog," said Mecha, "you and Tails share a bond, just as Aleda and I share a bond. I do not fear that she will abandon me while she is out playing. Her heart is not so fickle. Give Tails credit-he will not discard you simply because I have come along. I am new and strange, but the novelty will expire. In the end, you will remain his friend. And I-"

When Mecha remained silent, Sonic prompted, "And you?"

"And I," said Mecha dryly, "will remain a friendless android."

Sonic said nothing for a moment, but stared at the floor. Then he said with equal dryness, "Boy, that makes me feel SO much better. Thanks for the chat, Mecha. It was ... um, interesting." He stood, zipped his coat, and headed for the door.

"Hedgehog," said Mecha.

Sonic stopped with one hand on the doorknob.

"What gifts do you desire for Winter's Day?"

Sonic's head jerked around, and he stared at Mecha. "Me? Really?"

"You. Really."

Sonic studied the ceiling. "Well, there's these new running shoes I really want, but they're super expensive. They're Nikbok Knights, with chaos drives in the soles, and the three straps across the top. High-durability for active Mobians. Size eight."

"Very well." Mecha recorded this information, and gazed at the decompression table nearby, planning his method of getting up.

"I can't believe I'm telling you all this." Sonic shook his head and whisked out the door.

Mecha crept to his feet and onto the machine. Once settled, and the soothing stretches had begun, he logged on to the local Internet network and searched for the shoes. They were indeed of a noble price, but Mecha was an efficient day trader on the stock markets. He bought a pair. But the sight of them made him think of Shadow, which made pain creep into his heart.

Shadow had disagreed with Mecha's newfound faith, and they had parted under less than cordial terms. Ever since Black Doom had torn the veil on Shadow's past, the hedgehog had been unruly and angry-tired of being a pawn of so many people. He had taken up mercenary work from GUN in exchange for freedom from cryofreeze, and Mecha had not heard from him in four months.

Now he ventured to break the long silence. He sent a remote message to Shadow's signature.

"Shadow,

I am spending Winter's Day in Knothole for reasons of my own. I would like to gift you with something useful. Please notify me of your wishes before that date."

Alas, Shadow, the black hedgehog with a wound in his heart the size of the space colony ARK. First an experiment, then a slave, now a prodigal son. But Shadow must find his own path, whether into light or darkness, and Mecha could not accompany him. Especially not with injuries, and a small chao to mind.

He consulted readouts of progress being made with his spine. Gratifyingly, his spine had already decompressed by three millimeters. Green highlights appeared in his view screen, indicating repair and healing work being done on every ruptured disk. Before long the nerve damage would begin to heal, and his pain levels would drop dramatically.

Such healing would have taken many weeks for a typical person, but Mecha was in control of his very cells, directing them into precise healing patterns. Perhaps by Winter's Day, he would be able to join the festivities, and utilize chaos power without suffering.

* * *

The days passed. Mecha spent all his time on the decompression machine. But the thought of presents nagged him. He voiced this concern to Aleda that night.

"I know what!" she exclaimed, sitting up in their couch bed, and gazing into his glowing red eyes. "I can ask everybody for you! I won't say you want to know, of course. Then I'll tell you over the network!"

She became his festive spy, merrily interrogating everyone about what they wanted. As this season required that everyone give someone something, her questions were welcomed.

"Tails wants weird stuff," she reported later. "He said he wants a chaos neuralyzer, whatever that is."

"It is a device that lets one view chaos fields," said Mecha. "Odd."

"He also said he wants sixty ingots of copper and thirty of zinc." Aleda peered at Mecha's face. "Those are kinds of metal, right?"

"Right." Mystified, Mecha made notes in the mental spreadsheet where he was documenting gifts. "Did he say why he requires such things?"

"Nope. He said I wouldn't understand." Aleda pressed a paw to her chin in deep thought. "Sally wants a new music player. Slasher the dinosaur wants beef and pork steaks. She's asking everyone for the same thing."

Mecha chuckled a little. It didn't hurt his back, for once. "And what else?"

"Serena wants a racing bike. Bunnie wants a-a long sword from Giants and Galaxies, whatever that is."

"It is a popular game," said Mecha. "Your powers of memory astound me."

Aleda clapped her paws and fluttered her wings. "Goodie! Shall I get more?"

"I believe that is as many as I can handle. Besides your gift, of course. What do you wish for?"

The chao's eyes grew round and shiny. "Amy has a toy unicorn ... It's white and fluffy and soft and its big as me and I love it so much! I want one just like it!"

"Very well. I will arrange to view it so I can match its description exactly."

* * *

Mecha ordered his gifts, and the days took on a breathless anticipation. Winter's Day was now five days away, now four, now three.

Shadow did not respond. Mecha didn't allow himself to dwell on it. There was so much living and healing to be done, without punishing himself for past mistakes.

Three days before Winter's Day, the Echidna family visited the village.

Knuckles's family was an odd assortment of species. Beyond himself and Zephyer, both echidnas, there was their adopted son Talon, an anteater, just beginning his teen years-thin, gangly, and too shy to make eye contact with anyone. A white hedgehog accompanied them-Silver, who had lost his memory, but not his formidable telekinesis. Three chao hurled themselves into the snow-Max, a green water chao, Zinc, a silver chao, and Chimera, a red dragon chao.

Simoon, the poor ailing toddler, was wrapped warmly in blankets, and gazed out at the village with wondering eyes as Zephyer carried him.

They went to the community hut, where a fire roared in the fireplace, and many mismatched but comfortable chairs were arranged in rows. It was soon full of people who came to see Simoon and learn the latest news.

Knuckles cradled the child in his arms, but Simoon pushed back the blankets and sat up, looking around. "Ba," he observed.

"He doesn't know he's sick," Knuckles said.

"Takes after his dad," said Zephyer with a smile.

After a while, certain that no immediate harm would befall Simoon, Zephyer excused herself and stepped out into the crisp winter afternoon. Her smile vanished, replaced by a shadowed, troubled expression, and she dug her hands into her pockets as she walked. The cold stabbed icy needles through her clothes and fur-it had always been hard, even when her roboticized body had not been able to feel it so well. But without the metal, the cold gnawed at her, hurrying her toward her destination: Tails's workshop.

She knocked softly. Mecha's unmistakable voice said, "Come in." She turned the knob and cautiously opened it a crack, peering in.

Mecha was harnessed in to the decompression machine, as usual, and his red eyes flicked toward her. "Greetings, Zephyer. As you can see, I am incapacitated and cannot harm you."

She smiled a little and stepped inside. Space heaters warmed the garage wonderfully, and a small metallic blue chao sat on a rug with a box of crayons and a coloring book. She sat up and stared. "Who are you?"

"I'm Zephyer. Who are you?" The echidna pulled off her hat and gloves, and shook out her long red dreadlocks.

"I'm Aleda," said the chao. "You're pretty. Isn't she pretty, Mecha?"

Startled, Zephyer looked at the android. He frowned at the ceiling. "Aleda, you are forever putting me into uncomfortable situations with your remarks."

Zephyer stooped and patted Aleda's warm head. "I've known Mecha since he was an evil scheming murderous jerk. I'm glad that he's only a jerk now."

Aleda giggled.

Mecha muttered, "While I applaud your honesty, Zephyer, let's let ancient history remain buried."

She walked up and examined the decompression machine with a practiced eye. "Knux told me all about this thing. Is it working out all right?"

"Fantastically." Mecha folded his hands on his chest, which he could do now without it hurting. "My spine is already fifty-percent regenerated, with some of the nerve damage already mended. But that is not the reason for your visit."

"No." The shadows deepened in her face as her anguish rose to the surface. "I'm sure you've heard about Simoon."

Mecha's red eyes fixed on her face. She watched in fascination as the irises contracted, like natural eyes, as he focused on her. "Yes," he said. "What news?"

"Well-" Zephyer gathered her thoughts, and fought down the lump that surged into her throat. "We hadn't told anyone this yet, but-but they can't surgically repair Simoon's heart. It has to be a transplant."

Mecha waved a hand. "Continue."

"He has to have an echidna heart-we're too unique a species to accept a surrogate." Zephyer threw her arms wide, and the treacherous lump rose in her throat, cracking her voice. "There are no other echidnas, Mecha!"

His eyes flicked away from her.

She stooped and placed both hands on the machine's frame. "You have to help him. I know you rebuilt Shadow, and you rebuilt yourself. Is there some way you could build a-a mechanical heart?"

Mecha slowly returned his gaze to her face. "Yes."

Zephyer gave a laugh that was half a sob. "Yes? Just like that? What do you mean, yes?"

"Zephyer, you are distraught and hysterical." Mecha began unbuckling his harness with the ease of long practice. "Please go sit near Aleda until I am free. I will explain everything."

Zephyer obeyed, feeling like a scolded child. She wiped her teary eyes and sat beside a space heater. Aleda gazed at her and chewed the end of a red crayon.

Mecha climbed off the decompression machine, slowly. Watching him, Zephyer marveled at how hurt he was-he obviously suffered as much as Simoon did. And he was better? How much worse must he have been?

He walked to the warm space near Zephyer and Aleda, and gingerly sat on a nearby stool. "Now. I have been considering for months how I might build and install a new spine, as I had given up this one for lost. However, repairs are being made, and my biological assembly tanks sit in my laboratory, unused, yet waiting for information. I have been planning a heart for your son since I heard of his deformity."

Zephyer gazed at his pointed, claw-like fingers, the black eye sockets and red irises, the three sharp head spines protruding from his head. This robot had once been the terror of all her friends-the very shape of him still intimidated her. Yet she had seen him after his final defeat-shattered in mind and body, craving death. She had watched him heal after he had hatched Aleda-then seen him suffer when Aleda had nearly died.

And now he was offering to help her son.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are you helping us?"

Mecha's eyes narrowed. "I am curious to see if it can be done. The child may still die during the operation, but he will surely die without it."

Zephyer bowed her head and drew a steadying breath. He was right.

"Additionally," Mecha continued, "as your child is so young, I must design a heart with self-replicating cellular material, so it will grow as he grows. However, if the heart grows too fast or slow, the child will sicken and die. It will take constant monitoring for his entire childhood. I am afraid that if you desire me to undertake this operation, I will be in close contact with you and your family for many years."

"Mecha." Zephyer met his eyes steadily. "When you brought me to Mobius in that teleporter accident, was I afraid of you?"

He hunched his shoulders a little, as if ashamed at the memory, but could not stop a smile from creeping across his face. "No. You vexed me thoroughly with your sharp tongue. I roboticized you to shut you up, and even that merely made you more angry."

"Yeah. And when we were stranded in the desert together, when Aleda was a baby-I helped take care of her, remember?"

Mecha nodded. Aleda looked back and forth between them, obviously eager to know more.

"So," Zephyer went on, "if you come around a bit more, nobody minds. You've gone from 'oh my gosh here comes rocket-powered death' to 'hey look, it's that weird uncle who everybody likes'."

Aleda laughed. Mecha simply stared. "You are teasing me now."

"No, I'm serious." Zephyer leaned toward him. "Everybody likes you. If you can save Simoon, you'll be a hero. A different kind of hero than Sonic. Sonic fights bad guys with his speed-but you can save people with your mind."

Mecha sat in silence, eyes on the floor. Slowly he looked at Zephyer again, and he tilted his head to one side, as if puzzled. "That is ... the most remarkable thing anyone has ever said to me." He slid off the stool and flexed his arms. "But I am willing to try. Go fetch Knuckles and the child. We must teleport to my base to take tissue samples, and set the construction process in motion. The heart must be perfect, and it may take many tries to build it."

Zephyer jumped up, but hesitated at the door. "How will we get there? Should Sonic chaos control us?"

"No." Mecha brandished the pearly engraving on his wrist. "I have a chaos emerald, and I will take us, myself."

The excursion took barely fifteen minutes. The echidnas and Mecha teleported to his dark, cold base with its alien technologies. He drew blood and tissue from Simoon, who cried, and Mecha found himself unexpectedly moved. The tiny echidna had been through so much suffering already, and so much more lay ahead.

He set the machines to replicating cells and creating the building blocks he would assemble into a working organ, crafted from Simoon's own body. Then they all returned to Knothole.

No one had even noticed that they'd gone. The echidnas went off to eat dinner in the community hut. Mecha resumed his position on the decompression table, his supercomputer brain processing the huge amount of information necessary to craft a living, beating heart. Aleda resumed coloring. Or trying to.

"That baby was cute," she remarked.

Mecha made a noncommittal noise.

"I'd like to play with him once he's better. Do you think he'll be better soon?"

"No. He must undergo surgery, and such things are not soon healed. But in a few months, he may be available to play."

"Oh." Aleda scribbled thoughtfully in her coloring book. Mecha didn't speak again-he stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

Aleda was selecting a green crayon, when someone brushed her consciousness. She stiffened and sat still, listening with her whole being. That had felt like Nox, Shadow's chao, when he was probing for people's feelings. Most people couldn't feel him doing it, but Aleda had been around him so much, she'd learned to identify his power.

Slowly, so as not to disturb Mecha, Aleda got up, toddled to the door, and pulled the string Tails had rigged, to lift the latch. The door opened, and she bounded outside into the cold and snow, closing the door behind her.

The touch had come from nearby. Behind the garage, where the trees began. Aleda raced over the packed snow, panting in excitement, toward the trees. "Nox! Nox!"

The black chao bounded out of the woods, and stood outlined against the snow. He was a hedgehog chao, his spine-like bumps edged with gold, as Shadow's were edged with red. Nox exclaimed, "Aleda!"

She tackled him, and they tumbled into the snow, laughing. "What are you doing here? Where did you come from? Oh, I'm so glad to see you!"

"Me too!" Nox scrambled to his feet and gazed at her with his strange dark eyes. "You can't tell Mecha that we're here."

"We?" Aleda peered into the trees. Shadow blended completely with the darkness, and only the red glint of his digital eye gave him away. She waved. There was a vague movement as if he had waved back. "Why not?" she asked Nox. "He's missed you guys a lot. He's been badly hurt, did you know?"

Shadow stepped forward and knelt beside the chao. "Hurt? How?" He was dressed in a black bodysuit that concealed his robot arm and leg, but his half-robot face, with its glowing eye, remained exposed and intimidating.

But Aleda was far too used to Shadow to fear him-he was family. "When Mecha saved you, it hurt his back. Then his back hurt worse and worse until he couldn't move anymore. So he came here for help, and they built a machine to help him get better."

Shadow glanced at the garage, and his eyes focused as if he were staring through its walls. "That explains it. I tracked his transmission to Knothole and I thought my instruments were broken."

"So, why can't I tell him you're here?"

"Look, Aleda." Shadow rubbed her head with his warm, living hand. "Mecha and I are in the middle of ... Well, not a fight. More of a disagreement. I'm still thinking of what to say. I'm not ready to talk to him yet. When I am, I'll come in. Okay?"

"Okay." Aleda patted his hand with a paw. "I can keep a secret. Winter's Day is all about secrets."

Shadow smirked. "Good girl."

Aleda returned indoors, where it was warm. Mecha still stared at the ceiling, unaware that she had departed. She gazed at her coloring book for a moment, but her stomach rumbled. They were eating dinner in the community hut. Were Shadow and Nox hungry, too? They were outside in the cold, and the night was deepening.

"I'm going to eat dinner, Mecha," she announced.

"Acknowledged," he replied. His red eyes flicked toward her. "Take your coat."

"Acknowledged," she giggled, and scooped it off the floor.

It was a short trek through the snowy street. The crust was rapidly freezing to hard ice, and Aleda slipped twice. Panting and shivering, she bounded up on the community hut's porch and knocked until someone opened the door.

"Hey there!" said a violet hedgehog Aleda remembered was named Serena. "Come in! Is Mecha coming?"

"No, just me," said Aleda, wiping her snowy feet on the mat.

"The chao are eating in the kitchen," Serena said. "Come on, I'll get you a plate."

The kitchen was enormous to Aleda's eyes-a vast cave of glistening stainless steel. It smelled of roasted meat and fresh bread. A small bench had been set up nearby as a chao-sized table, with pillows as chairs. The green, silver and red chao who had come with Knuckles sat there, and looked curiously at Aleda as she entered.

Serena grabbed a plate off a nearby stack, and scooped a little of everything onto it. Then she set it on the tiny table and returned to her own dinner.

Aleda sat down across from the other chao, and for a moment they stared at each other in silence. Then she said, "I'm Aleda. What's your names?"

"I'm Zinc," said the silver chao. His eyes had black whites and white pupils, as if he were blind, but his eyes moved as if he saw her clearly. Two rhinoceros-like horns rose from his forehead.

"I'm Max," said the green chao. He had a long, streamlined head and body, and seal-like flippers with claws at the ends.

"I'm Chimera," said the red chao. He was the rusty color of dried blood, and two thick horns protruded from the back of his head. He chewed a piece of meat, flashing pointed white teeth.

Aleda attacked her own meal and didn't say anything else for a while. She had never been around other chao like this before, particularly chao bonded to surrogate parents, as she was.

Chimera blurted, "Is Metal Sonic really your dad?"

"Yep!" Aleda lifted her chin proudly.

"Knuckles is mine," said Chimera. "My dad could beat up your dad."

Zinc slapped Chimera. "Don't be a jerk! You just met her!"

"So?" Chimera shoved Zinc off his seat. Zinc jumped on him, and they wrestled, growling and bumping into things.

Max ate placidly, as if this happened all the time. "Well," he said, "you're a very pretty color, Aleda."

Aleda watched Chimera and Zinc. "Won't they hurt each other?"

Max waved a flipper. "Nah. What do you want for Winter's Day?"

At the mention of presents, Chimera and Zinc returned to the table, panting, fur rumpled.

Aleda bounced in place. "Oh! I asked for a fluffy toy unicorn! I think Mecha will get it for me, too!"

"I want a sword and a rocket launcher," said Chimera. He held up a stubby finger and thumb and pretended to shoot Max in the head. "Ka-pow! You're dead!"

Max brushed the claws away. "I want this tiny piano I saw in a magazine. It's just my size."

"That's a sissy present," sneered Chimera. Zinc immediately twisted one of Chimera's arms behind his back, and Chimera whimpered, "Sorry! I take it back!"

Zinc let him go and dusted off his paws. "I want this cool board game called Masanji, where the pieces are stuck on with magnets."

Aleda looked at the three uncertainly. "Do you think you'll get any? I mean, with the baby being sick."

All three boys looked suddenly downcast, even Chimera. Zinc murmured, "It's my fault. I pushed him down, then he cried and couldn't get up. That's when they found out he had a hole in his heart."

Aleda cocked her head. "But Knuckles said he was born with it."

Zinc nodded his silver head. "Still. I knocked him down. If he dies, it'll be my fault."

Aleda felt dreadful and pushed away her dinner plate. This was suffering on a level she had never encountered, and it made her insides turn twisty. If only Nox were here-he could make them feel better.

Nox and Shadow! They were still out in the cold, probably hungry!

She leaned across the table and whispered, "Can you guys keep a secret?"

Zinc, Chimera and Max perked up. "Sure!" they exclaimed.

Aleda explained about smuggling food to Shadow and Nox outside.

The three chao boys grinned at each other. "Leave it to us," said Chimera. "We're great at stealing food."

Zinc and Chimera climbed the cabinets to reach the countertops. Max ran from cabinet to cabinet until he found a stack of storage containers. He passed them to his brothers, who scooped chunks of meat, bread and vegetables into containers. Then they mashed the lids on tight, and dropped them. Max caught each one and stacked them neatly. The entire operation took approximately ninety seconds.

Aleda watched, fluttering her wings in excitement. "You guys really are good at this!"

Chimera and Zinc dropped to the floor. Zinc ran to the kitchen door and peered into the great room, where everyone else were still eating. He softly closed the door. "We can't leave that way. Somebody will see us."

Chimera scrambled up on the counter again, and tugged at a window. "I think this will open." Zinc and Mac joined him, and together they heaved into window open. An icy draft swirled into the warm kitchen.

Aleda handed them the food containers, then climbed up to the windowsill. One by one they jumped the four feet to the snow outside.

"Oh no," said Aleda, looking back. "We didn't shut the window!"

"Nobody will notice," Chimera assured her. "Besides, how will we get back in if the window's shut?"

Each chao hoisted two containers, and they dragged them through the snow, keeping to the deep shadows between huts.

"This way," Aleda panted, pointing down the snowy street. "Behind Tails's workshop."

They toiled along in silence, their panting breath forming tiny puffs of steam. Aleda's heart beat in excitement and triumph. Shadow would be so pleased! And Nox, too!

They reached the darkness behind the workshop. "Nox?" she called. "Come out, we brought food!"

Silence. No answer.

Chimera dropped his container and bounded into the trees on all fours. A moment later he returned, dusting snow off his paws. "There's nobody here. They must have left."

Aleda's triumph faded to nothing. She hung her head and heaved a sigh. Tears blurred her vision.

Max patted her arm. "It's okay, Aleda. Do you want to take this to Mecha instead?"

She nodded, afraid that she might cry if she spoke.

Together the four chao carried the containers around the building to the door. Aleda pulled the string to lift the latch, swung the door open, and gasped.

Mecha sat on the decompression table, and Shadow sat opposite him on a stool, obviously deep in conversation. They looked up as the door opened.

"You're here!" Aleda exclaimed. "Um, I brought dinner."

Nox leaped out from under the Tornado and ran to the door. "Food? Where? Food!"

The three boy chao helped carry in the containers, silent in the presence of the legendary Shadow. They sneaked glances at him with wide eyes. As soon as the food was delivered, they scurried outside, closing the door behind them. Their voices came distantly through the wall, exclaiming about Shadow and proclaiming their bravery.

Nox tore the lids off the containers, and the aroma of roast beef filled the workshop. Shadow nudged him aside with one foot. "Save some for me, hog." He deftly flipped over a lid to use as a plate and piled it with some of everything. "Then Mephiles showed me my future-if you could call it that. They'd not only stuck me in stasis, they were using me as a battery to power a city."

Aleda climbed up on the table with Mecha, who lifted her and stroked her head in silent approval. To Shadow he said, "Was it the truth, or more deception?"

Shadow tore open a roll and stuffed it with meat and scalloped potatoes. "I've had much time to ponder, and I'm still not sure. He was manipulating me into joining him, certainly. But that future has been changed."

Mecha was silent a long moment, head bowed. "How do you retain a record of such events if the Hedgehog erased the timeline?"

Shadow tapped the metal side of his face. "Digital recording. What my wetware lost, my hardware saved."

Mecha nodded. Aleda scrutinized his face, and saw deep sadness there.

Shadow devoured his dinner with the savage efficiency of a predator. "The point is, I'm going to spend the rest of my existence with a target on my back, whether or not I wind up as a battery. I'm sick of running, Mecha." He lifted his metal fist. "And when I stop, the world will cower before me."

"Doubtless it will," Mecha said dryly. "You are well-nigh invincible."

Shadow faced Mecha with a stony glare for a moment, as if he expected further argument. When none came, his expression softened. "No scolding? No lecture about using my power for the greater good?"

Mecha studied the floor for a moment, before returning his gaze to the face he had marred. "Shadow, you know that I have sought purpose in my existence, and found it. It is immensely satisfying. I wish that you, too, would find it, but your road differs from mine. You fear further slavery and manipulation. As a prime instigator of that fear, my remorse is boundless. I also understand, and respect your decision."

Shadow blinked at Mecha, nonplussed. After a moment he said faintly, "Thanks." In a stronger voice, he added, "You still haven't explained why you're in Knothole."

Mecha detailed his injuries and healing process. Shadow examined the decompression table with grim approval.

"Now, however," Mecha said, "I am undergoing an experiment that you doubtless would think futile."

The black hedgehog pricked his single mobile ear.

Mecha explained about Simoon's heart transplant. Shadow folded his arms and listened without expression. When Mecha finished, he grunted. "Send me the data. I'll have Maria analyze it."

Mecha sent him the file, all nineteen gigabytes. Shadow tilted his head to the left, as if listening with his robot ear to a voice that only he could hear. After a while he said, "Maria suggests certain improvements, both to the heart and the proposed surgery."

He sent Mecha the data, who studied it. To his pleased surprise, Shadow's AI had indeed improved upon his original design. "I shall incorporate these at once."

Shadow scuffed one foot against the floor and glanced at the door, as if considering his departure. "Mecha ... I ..."

"I shall not keep you," said Mecha, but he could not keep the regret from his voice. "You have a world to conquer."

Shadow's twisted grin appeared. "I appreciate the confidence in my abilities. No, I was going to say, would you mind if I attended the surgery? I lack the expertise to perform one, but I could assist in other ways."

Mecha's core temperature rose by several tenths of a degree as joy rushed through his neural pathways. "That would be satisfactory."


	4. Chapter 4

Shadow teleported away shortly afterward-he refused to remain in the village-but he was staying nearby, somewhere in New Mobitropolis.

The following day, Mecha spent restlessly teleporting between his lab and Knothole, overseeing the growth stages of the heart. He also set three backups to growing, and monitored them constantly.

"You're like a baker with a cake in the oven," Aleda observed, as Mecha paced around the workshop.

"A living, beating cake," Mecha replied, "which will mean life or death for a small child."

Aleda made a face. "That sounds really gross."

Outside, the village was busy preparing for Winter's Day-wrapping gifts, planning meals, and cooking. Delicious smells wafted everywhere. The following day was Winter's Eve, which had nearly as many festivities as Winter's Day-it was traditional to hand out candy at every meal. Aleda could barely contain her excitement.

By that evening, the first heart was completely grown, and working properly. Mecha tested it extensively, and when he finished, Shadow ran more tests, himself.

"It all checks out," Shadow told Mecha over their communication network, "but Maria has extrapolated the growth patterns. She believes that it will develop malignant cells within five years. However, the third-grown heart has the best projected growth patterns. She strongly suggests using it instead."

As night fell and Winter's Eve crept closer, Mecha returned to the lab and ran tests on the heart Shadow had chosen. It, too, was healthy and beautifully designed. He could not deny the math of the growth extrapolation. "We shall utilize your suggestion, Shadow. If the child survives the transplant, he shall lead a long and active life."

* * *

Early in the morning on Winter's Eve, Knuckles answered a call. Mecha's voice said cryptically, "It is time."

Simoon had grown weaker over the last two days. His lips were an unhealthy bluish purple, his breath shallow, and he couldn't eat.

When the echidnas arrived in Knothole, Mecha met them at the teleporter, standing straight and at last moving without pain. His own condition had ceased to interest him in the face of this new puzzle, however. He swept Simoon with a scan.

"It is well that we are attempting the transplant today," he told Knuckles and Zephyer. "His vital signs have dropped significantly. We shall have to stabilize him before we attempt the surgery."

"We?" Knuckles said. "You have help?"

"Yes. Shadow."

Knuckles and Zephyer exchanged nervous looks, and Zephyer clutched Simoon a little tighter.

Mecha huffed a cloud of mist into the frigid air. "Neither of us has a good reputation, yes. But we are both committed to returning Simoon to you alive. It is his only hope of survival."

Slowly Zephyer stepped forward. "I know. It's just ... terrifying, now that we've come to it." She placed the blanket-wrapped toddler in Mecha's arms. His powerful synthetic muscles barely registered the child's meager weight.

"I will send updates every hour," he said, and teleported straight to the lab.

Aleda found Knuckles and Zephyer shortly afterward, sitting on a bench at the far end of the village in the snow. They were huddled together with their arms around each other, and tears streamed down Zephyer's muzzle.

Aleda regarded them soberly for a moment, sucking on a stick of peppermint. Then she picked her way toward them, a small blue chao in a fluffy pink sweater. She scrambled up onto the bench beside them, and patted Zephyer's knee. "Don't worry. Mecha can fix anything. Simoon will be okay, you'll see."

Zephyer lifted Aleda and hugged her. "You're a darling," she said, her voice choked with tears.

Knuckles didn't say anything, but his big hand found Aleda's head and scratched behind her ears. She closed her eyes, enjoying it.

The communicator in Knuckles's coat pocket beeped. He yanked it out and flipped it on.

"Simoon is stabilized," Shadow's voice growled. "We plan to begin the surgery in two hours." The transmission ended.

Zephyer drew a deep breath and forced a smile. "This will be a fun day, won't it?"

Aleda reached into the pocket of her sweater, and pulled out a paper-wrapped caramel. "Candy?"

* * *

In the lab, Shadow watched Simoon's life signs on a monitor as Mecha worked over the small, still body on the bed. "He's looking good, Mecha."

Mecha was inserting a catheter, and didn't speak until he had finished. "For having been unwell for so long, he is otherwise healthy. I am divided over whether to allow him to heal naturally, or add healing nanites to his bloodstream." He cast Shadow a significant glance.

Most of Shadow's apparent agelessness was due to the nanites in his own body, which had first knit his flesh with his metal implants, then remained to maintain his health. They had seen him through many horrible injuries.

"The kid would never get sick," he said with a grin. "But wouldn't chaos energy ruin them?"

"Does it harm yours?"

"No, but I have extensive chaos shielding."

"As do I," Mecha replied. "As do the nanites I am considering using. Perhaps we will keep them in reserve."

It took a while to painstakingly insert all the necessary catheters. Mecha added the breathing tube. Nearby, a ventilator purred to life, filling Simoon's lungs with oxygen.

"Showtime," Shadow said.

Mecha cut open the child's chest, and cracked open the rib cage to expose the heart. It was an unhealthy violet, and beat unevenly, like a bird with an injured wing.

Next Mecha attached a myriad sterile tubes to veins and arteries, diverting the body's blood supply through a heart/lung machine. This kept the blood clean and circulating, even without a beating heart. Vital signs dipped a little, then returned to normal. Shadow watched in silence. His own surgery that had transformed him into Mekion had been much more invasive. Thankfully he remembered none of it.

Mecha cut away the faulty heart, and replaced it with the synthetic organ. It looked much like a natural heart, except that the aorta and pulmonary artery gleamed silver. Mecha stitched everything back together, working partly by hand, and partly by directing a swarm of tiny nanites to bind together veins and arteries.

Once the stitches were finished, Mecha directed the blood flow back into the veins, and jolted the heart with electricity to set it to beating. It sprang to life, strong and healthy, and immediately took on a dark red color.

"No bleeding," Mecha observed, watching the machinery run. "I'm closing the rib cage."

Half an hour later, Simoon's chest was once more closed, with a thick bandage over the incision. Mecha reported to the concerned parents that the surgery had finished successfully, and now they were keeping Simoon under observation.

All seemed well until that afternoon. Shadow had set Maria to watching Simoon's monitors while he read a book called Failing into Success. He was deep in a chapter about how to influence people's decisions, when Maria said softly, "Shadow. Simoon is showing signs of rejection."

Shadow cursed, tossed the book aside, and ran to the monitors. "Mecha, he's rejecting the heart. Temperature up five degrees, white blood cell count skyrocketing."

"Blast." Mecha rushed to the machines that surrounded the bed, and checked the various bags of fluids and drugs that dripped into Simoon's body. "I have him on three immunosuppressants, and he's still reacting. Curse echidnas and their immune systems!"

"Would the nanites help?"

Mecha fumed in silence for a long moment, checking and re-checking the monitors. "It is a choice between that, and suppressing his immune system entirely, leaving him open to secondary infection."

Shadow left the sterile operating room and went to the reconstruction room, where the various types of nanites were stored in small, sealed tanks. He filled a hypodermic needle with the healing machines-it looked like gray syrup. "Thus goes immortality," he muttered.

He returned it to Mecha. "The echidnas may not appreciate it when they discover that their son has been augmented."

"The heart itself is augmentation," Mecha replied waspishly. "The nanites merely support it." He held the clear tube under an infrared light connected to the base computers, transmitting instructions to the nano-machines. Then he injected them into Simoon's arm. "Now we wait."

It took four minutes for blood to make a complete circuit of the body, carrying the nanite swarm. They collected in and around the heart, and began healing the stitches, reducing inflammation, and integrating the body's own building blocks into the synthetic organ.

"Fever has dropped two degrees," Shadow announced.

Mecha stooped over the tiny echidna, head turned as if listening. He was pinging the nanites, collecting their reports. At last he straightened with a sigh. "They are operating at optimal levels, as usual. The child shall not die-in fact, he will be nearly impossible to kill." His head drooped, and he ran his cold metal hand along Simoon's face. "I apologize," he said softly. "You have joined the ranks of monsters like us."

"We're not monsters!" Shadow snapped. When Mecha only gave him a long look, he added, "Not evil ones, anyway."

Mecha sighed. "Take him off the anesthesia. He will recover rapidly now, and this base is no place for a child. He will heal best at home."

Shadow eased the drugs down to nothing. Inside him, a fierce triumph was growing. For the first time in his tortured life, he had helped snatch a life from death's jaws. "If only I could have saved you, Maria."

"Don't punish yourself on my behalf," she whispered. "Take your grief and use it to save other lives."

Shadow would have much preferred to mete out punishment to evil doers. Protecting the innocent was an angle he had not considered.

Simoon stirred and opened his eyes. Still dopey from the anesthesia, he said, "Mama?"

Mecha gazed into the small echidna's confused eyes. "No. But you will see her again soon."

* * *

Winter's Eve was almost everything Aleda had wished-games, candy, laughing people, and best of all, anticipation.

The Winter Tree was a young pine a few hundred feet outside the village. It had been the Winter Tree for several years now, owing to its perfect shape and size. Aleda accompanied a crowd of villagers to the tree, where they strung it with crystals and sparkly decorations.

Tails was called upon to fly to the tree's top, and attach the delicate crystal star. It flashed in the sunlight like diamond as the fox hovered, tails spinning.

Aleda clapped her paws. "I want to light it! I want to light it!"

"Nope," said Sonic, who was standing nearby, stirring a cup of hot chocolate with a cinnamon stick. "It only lights up once all the other crystals are lit. The big finale, you know?"

Aleda clasped her paws and gazed at the tree, starry-eyed. If only Mecha were here to see this! Of course he would be back once he finished repairing Knuckles and Zephyer's baby-Aleda was fuzzy on the details-but she still missed him.

The red dragon chao, Chimera, crunched through the snow and stood looking at the tree, too. "I'm getting more presents than you, Aleda. I'm going to light tons of crystals."

"You only get to light them if you've given away gifts, not gotten them," Aleda replied, tilting her chin upwards.

"Given!" Chimera stared at the tree. "How does anybody give that many presents?"

Knuckles appeared and scooped up his chao in one big hand. "It's for the whole village, squirt. It'll be completely lit tomorrow, and it's quite a spectacle."

Chimera bounced up and down, rocking Knuckles's arm. "I want to see!"

It was already growing dark-it was the eve of the shortest day of the year. The tree-decorators trooped back to the village, chattering in happy anticipation. Knuckles set Chimera down to let him run, and walked alone, shoulders hunched and head bowed. Aleda ran after him. "Knuckles! Everything's all right. Mecha said that Simoon is fine, right?"

Knuckles picked her up-his hand seemed the size of a boat. "I know," he said, carrying her against his coat. "I just miss him."

Aleda's face fell. She understood the loneliness of missing someone-without Mecha's lurking, red-eyed presence, she felt abandoned, unprotected, forsaken. Rather like she had felt in the chao garden of the breeder, when Mecha had crept inside in disguise, then left again.

Darkness cloaked the village, but lights gleamed gold in every window, and every hut sparkled with rows of festive charm crystals-blue, red, green. The community hut's kitchen breathed out aromas of rosemary and allspice.

Aleda raced to Tails's workshop, but it was dark and unoccupied. Mecha still wasn't back. "Where are you?" she cried over the network. There was no reply - she lacked the ability to communicate over long distances, and she knew it.

* * *

Mecha didn't return all night. Aleda slept alone on Tails's couch. When she awoke, the sky outside the window was dim gray, and snowflakes were falling thick and fast.

Tails joined her at the window, his head fur mashed flat from the pillow. "Merry Winter's Day!"

"Merry Winter's Day!" Aleda replied, pressing her nose against the window. "Look at the snow! Is it a blizzard?"

"Nope, just snow." Tails produced an electric griddle and began to mix up a batch of pancake batter. "We're only supposed to get about three inches. It'll be a perfect day."

She climbed up on a chair and watched greedily as he poured six pancakes on the griddle. They sizzled and bubbled, and Tails flipped them with expert sweeps of a spatula.

Her concerns were too great to contain. "Mecha's not back," she exclaimed. "Why hasn't he come back?"

"He called last night, said there were complications," Tails replied. He piled pancakes on a plate, drizzled them with syrup, and set the plate in front of Aleda at the counter. "He promised that he'd be back for the tree lighting, though."

Aleda tore a jagged chunk out of the pancakes with her claws, and crammed her mouth blissfully full. When she could speak again, she said, "But he'll miss all the presents!"

"Oh, he told me to hand them out for him." Tails grinned. "Yours are under the couch. I thought for sure that you'd notice."

Aleda hurled herself off the chair. Tails caught her in midair. "Oh no you don't, not covered in syrup! Finish eating first."

She devoured the rest of the pancakes in an agony of excitement, nearly choking herself. She submitted to a vigorous washing-up, then sped to the couch.

A fluffy rainbow tail protruded from underneath. She pulled it out, and discovered the unicorn she had dreamed about. She squealed in pure ecstasy and hugged it tight. "It's perfect! I love it! Mecha, thank you, thank you!"

Tails smiled down at her, enjoying her bliss. "There's more presents under there."

"There is?" Still clutching the unicorn, Aleda peeked under the couch. Three wrapped packages awaited her. She tore into them and discovered a huge box of candy from Tails, a new set of chao clothes from Zephyer, and a sturdy metal car from Sonic that was big enough for a chao to ride on.

The only blemish on this shining morning was Mecha's absence. Aleda put on her new clothes and helped Tails carry gifts to the community hut. People were dropping off gifts and picking them up, and there was much laughter and squealing of joy.

Sonic held up a pair of shoes with chaos drives in the soles. "Man, look at these! I can't believe Mecha got them for me! He asked what I wanted, and I told him these as a joke!"

"What do they do?" Tails's eyes were wide.

Sonic turned the shoes over and over, then strapped them on his feet. "Only one way to find out." He went outside, dug himself starting blocks in the snow, then kicked off and shot down the street in a blur. A moment later he reappeared from the opposite direction, a cloud of snow in his wake. He tried to stop and skidded the length of the village, whooping with excitement. "These are freaking amazing!"

Aleda made sure that each of Mecha's gifts found their recipients, but it wasn't much fun without him there. She took care to note every smile and reaction so she could pantomime it all for him when he returned.

The flood of gifts slowed to a trickle. The community hut emptied as everyone retreated to enjoy gifts and visit in their warm huts. The snow kept falling. Aleda took her gifts to the community hut, where she and the unicorn rode on the car, while she sampled all the candy in the box.

That afternoon, Knuckles and Zephyer came in and sat by the fire. Aleda, who was near tears with loneliness, climbed up on the sofa and sat beside Zephyer, who put an arm around her.

"Complications, Mecha said yesterday," Knuckles said quietly. "Not a word since."

Zephyer's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "You don't think-maybe they lost Simoon?"

"No, no," Knuckles replied, his arm tightening around her shoulders. "They'd have told us."

Aleda leaned against Zephyer, deeply comforted by a loving, maternal presence. "I wish you could be my mama."

Zephyer pushed back her long dreadlocks and smiled down at her. "I doubt Mecha would approve." She stroked Aleda's head.

Aleda sighed, and her heart ached. "Don't worry about Simoon. Mecha will fix him. I just wish he'd come back."

They sat there, huddled together before the fire, until Sonic stuck his head in. "Tree lighting in five!"

The echidnas rose and donned their coats. Aleda put on hers, and they all headed out into the snow.

It had finally stopped snowing, but a blanket of soft powder covered everything. Zephyer carried Aleda to keep her from floundering. They followed the rest of the laughing, chattering villagers through the woods to the Winter's Day tree.

Everyone crowded around it and touched crystals as high as they could reach, setting colors glinting and flashing among the branches. The crystals were every color of the rainbow: ruby, topaz, emerald, sapphire, and amethyst. Sonic lit crystals for those without chaos power, the green chaos drives in his heels throwing a brilliant light across the snow whenever he moved.

Finally the tree was almost completely lit, except for several crystals near the top. "Who hasn't lit theirs yet?" Sonic called. "Come on, people!"

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. The star on the tree's top remained dark.

Aleda counted the dim crystals, then tugged at Zephyer's pant leg. "Those are Mecha's."

Zephyer nodded, and turned in a circle. Then she gasped and clutched Knuckles's arm. The crowd noticed, followed her gaze, and fell silent.

Walking down the snowy street came three strange figures: a fierce black hedgehog, and a sleek blue hedgehog who was partly living and partly mechanical, but entirely neither. They each held the hand of a small echidna, who toddled between them, his short legs sinking in the snow.

Zephyer pressed both hands to her face. "He's walking. Knuckles, Simoon is walking!" She dashed forward.

Simoon spotted his mother, released Shadow and Mecha, and held out his arms. Zephyer scooped him up, laughing and crying. Then Knuckles was there, with his arms around them both.

Aleda dashed to Mecha, who lifted her and settled her in the crook of his arm. "You were gone so long!" she said, hugging him.

"It took time to restore Simoon," Mecha replied, watching the family reunion. "I apologize for not arriving sooner." He met her eyes, and his own were a deep crimson. "The preservation of life sometimes comes at a high cost."

Knuckles overheard this, and walked up. "What do you mean?" he asked in a low voice.

The other villagers were gathering around Zephyer and Simoon now, and their hubbub masked Mecha's reply. But Aleda heard him clearly. "His body rejected the heart. Our only recourse was to inject him with healing nanites."

Knuckles didn't reply for a moment, but his gaze shifted to Shadow, who stood there in silence with his arms crossed. "Like his?"

Mecha inclined his head.

"So ..." Knuckles glanced at his son. "He can heal any wound?"

"Within reason," Mecha replied. "He cannot regrow limbs, for instance. But yes, he will rival Shadow in health and healing ability."

Knuckles scowled. "I don't know whether to hug you or knock your lights out."

"Be happy!" Aleda said hastily. "Simoon is well, and that's all that matters!"

Knuckles slowly grinned. "I guess you're right."

Sonic dashed up and poked Mecha's elbow. "Sorry to break up the party, but we've got a tree that needs lighting over here."

Mecha and Shadow followed Sonic through the crowd to the tree. As Mecha reached for a crystal, Sonic said, "You know, it's totally cool, you finishing the tree."

"Yes, Hedgehog?" Mecha said as a red crystal flashed to life under his fingertips.

"You brought Simoon back." Sonic's voice faltered. "Nobody else-I mean, it's not every day somebody does emergency surgery to save somebody else around here."

"Perhaps," said Shadow, breaking his long silence, "it is something that ought to happen more often."

Mecha touched the last crystal. The star blazed to life at the tree's top, powered by the chaos fields of the entire village, and more-it was the power of generosity and love.

The crowd cheered. Mecha looked around and realized that they were cheering for him-smiling faces, without fear or hate. He looked up at the star, which he had helped light with a multitude of small acts of kindness, and a sense of lightness spread through him.

It persisted as the crowd dispersed, and he still felt it back in Tails's workshop, alone once more with Aleda and Shadow. He admired Aleda's gifts, and listened as she related the story of each gift recipient's reaction. Inside him, the glorious feeling continued, as if the tree's star glimmered inside him. The smiling faces played in his memory over and over, analyzed closely - the Hedgehog, and Tails, and Knuckles, and their friends, and friends of friends - all looking at him without fear, united in joy and celebration.

"I find it amazing to not be hated," Mecha confided to Shadow later, when Aleda had fallen asleep on top of her unicorn next to the heater. Nox was asleep on Shadow's shoulder, buried under his black spines.

Shadow had been surprised to find that Mecha had given him a gift, as well - a bit of metal bent in a complex shape, with a steel ball trapped in its center. It was possible to remove the ball, but Shadow had not yet figured it out. He turned it this way and that, worrying the ball through the bars. "I distrust people who don't hate me."

"I have always taken it for granted," Mecha said. "Yet today, that changed. Is it possible that the restoration of a single life was enough to expunge my entire past record?"

Shadow's hands stilled. "Is it?"

Mecha looked up to find Shadow's mismatched eyes fixed on him. "Are you saying," Shadow said slowly, "that mercy is better than justice?"

Mecha considered. "As one who deserves justice, not mercy, I find the reversal astonishing, yes, and preferable."

"As one who plans to bring justice," Shadow said, "this gives me much to think about." He rose to his feet and tucked the puzzle into a pocket of his black bodysuit. "I must be going, Mecha. I've not celebrated Winter's Day since they took Maria from me. It's been ... interesting."

"Farewell," said Mecha, lifting a hand. "Do keep in touch, and may your endeavors meet with success."

Shadow's mouth curled in a smirk that anyone else would have seen as cruel, but Mecha correctly read the regret behind it. Then Shadow was gone into the snowy night, leaving Mecha alone with his thoughts.

Later on, Tails came in, yawning. "Hi, Mecha. Hey, that's cool how you helped Simoon like that."

Mecha nodded. "Perhaps I might seek to extend the same mercy to other ailing people."

Tails nodded and smiled. "Imagine how many people you could help!"

"The technology needs more work," Mecha replied. The last thing he wanted to do was spread healing nanites into the population at large. "But in the future, yes. I would like to save lives as restitution for those I ended."

Tails sat on the apartment steps and pulled off his shoes and socks, yawning. "This has been a great Winter's Day."

Mecha pondered it. He had arrived in such agony that he could barely move - and now not only was his spine one hundred percent rebuilt, he had extended the same generosity to Simoon.

This is love, Mecha realized with a shock. Showing mercy, bestowing help upon those whose lives are of no strategic importance. I have been shown love by my enemies, and I have returned it.

The brightness inside him grew to a steady blaze.

I am alive, for I can love.

The end


End file.
